Valve sued in Germany over game ownership

The Federation of German Consumer Organizations (VZVB) has sued computer game distributor Valve because it prohibits Steam-gamers from reselling their games.

Users should be able to resell the games they own, says the Federation of German Consumer Organizations

By
Loek Essers
| 31 Jan 2013

The Federation of German Consumer Organizations (VZVB) has sued computer game distributor Valve because it prohibits Steam-gamers from reselling their games.

Steam users own the games they purchase and should be able to resell them when they want to, just like owners of traditional card or board games can, said Carola Elbrecht, project manager for consumer rights in the digital world at the VZVB, on Thursday. But while those traditional game owners can resell their games whenever they like, Steam users often cannot, she said.

In theory, a Steam user could download a game, burn it on a CD and resell it, she said. In most cases, though, buyers wouldn't be able to play the game they purchased because the games are linked to a user account and without the key for that specific account, online only games are not playable, she said.

Because Valve forbids its users to sell or transfer their accounts to another person, the exchange of games that can only be played online is impossible, she said. This means that a Steam user only partially owns games, Elbrecht said. "If I pay the full price for a game, then why am I not allowed to do with it what I want," she added.

Valve was warned in September by the VZVB to change this practice, but the company did not comply with the federation's demands. Therefore, the federation sued the company in the District Court of Berlin on Wednesday.

Valve did not respond to a request for comment.

The VZVB sued the game distributor for similar reasons once before, Elbrecht said. That case went all the way to the German Federal Court of Justice, which ruled in 2010 that Valve did not violate German law by prohibiting the transfer of user accounts.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), however, ruled in July that the trading of "used" software licenses is legal and that the author of such software cannot oppose any resale.

While the CJEU's case is not exactly the same as the current litigation against Valve, the VZVB reckons that the ruling gives sufficient basis for a new lawsuit, Elbrecht said. She expected the litigation to go on for years, and it will probably end up at the federal court again, she said.

Nevertheless, a new lawsuit is useful, she said. Besides raising awareness of the issue and possibly changing the minds of the judges, the litigation is also meant as a signal to other game distributors that have the same practices, she said.

While Valve was unwilling to change its practices on this point, it promised to change the way it gets users' consent when it changes its terms and conditions. The last time Valve changed the terms and conditions for Steam, users were unable to play their games if they did not accept the new rules, Elbrecht said. Valve promised to adjust the mandatory consent to let users who don't want to accept the new terms in the future to still be able to play their purchased games.

Loek is Amsterdam Correspondent and covers online privacy, intellectual property, open-source and online payment issues for the IDG News Service. Follow him on Twitter at @loekessers or email tips and comments to [email protected]

Comments

Vercinger - 16:50 19-06-2013

Jacques Shellac - 12:34 12-02-2013

Good for the Germans. I hope the legislation goes Europe-wide. Then I can buy and import my games directly from the UK and avoid STEAM entirely.

Fluke - 16:11 04-02-2013

I am curious as to why they are choosing to single out Valve/Steam. How many of the following other digital content stores allow you to resell your digital content:- Apple AppStore- Google Play Store- Amazon App Store- Electronic Arts Origin- Ubishop- Gamefly PC Downloads- Xbox Live marketplace- Sony PlayStation Network

As far as I know, none of them have a concept of reselling. At least I can't find one.

EA Origin even includes in the terms of use that you agree they can remove a game from your account just because you haven't been playing it recently.

Sony has filed a patent in the USA for a method to activate physical disc games to a specific account and require a re-activation fee if the disc is sold. Hence, it seems in the future you will be able to sell the disc the game is on but the person buying will still need to re-buy the game itself after.

It almost seems like they decided that Valve is a small enough company that they can bully them. I would like the ability to resell the items I bought or have a method they can be split up and given to others upon my death, but the playing field should be level. It isn't fair to let the big companies get away with breaking a policy and then just bully the underdog!

Ryan - 08:51 02-02-2013

I can sort of understand that they want to sell as many copies as possible and that they don;t want to loose money of second hand trade, then perhaps introduce a percentage of the the money for the second hand transfer goes to steam for support and keeping the game working on newer operating systems.

What is a lot worse is that you cannot use 2 different games in the same household at the same time. If I want to play counter strike while my girlfriend wants to play civilisation on my steam account. So if we both like the same games but don;t feel like playing them at the same time we will be forced to buy 2 copies.

This is a horrible development if you ask me.

Blahh - 21:04 01-02-2013

If you don't like how steam operates buy the game from a retailer then you can sell it. It's insane to think that because a service provided to you is not what you want that the service provider should change. If you don't like it, don't use it.

DasGogo! - 09:32 01-02-2013

1) I see no reason why you shouldn't be at least be able to sell it to other Steam Users. If there was a method of transferring keys with or w/out pricing involved - the original owner would not have it, the new owner would now be the keeper of that key, and the game would still be available online for download by the keeper of the key. Have Steam, tack on a transaction fee and call it a day.

2) I like using Steam, but having the freedom of doing what I want with what I buy is hella important. As a temporary fix, this is the reason why I never pay full price for games on Steam.

I would definitely like to know how this develops.

supersungin - 09:31 01-02-2013

what the &%[email protected]# !! VZVB wants ?? big company can do wherever they want if the user accept the terms and offers don't see any problem ,,so suing company like mega is unfair,, and they starting now to valve cause they have the inspiration that gains free hats and money at the same time. stay away from those company's or gonna kick yar butt !! by saying yar (your) if you wana(want) justice why don't you sue Microsoft for not upgrading windows 7 into service pack 2 ?? huh :O ?

Keiran Blackwell - 09:28 01-02-2013

Yeah, should be an easy one to win. Isn't it the case that we buy a license to a game, and not the game itself?

Besides that, Steam games are so incredibly cheap, the deals are amazing, the convenience is mind blowing and again Germany seems to not realise it's in the 21st century.

Dafoosa - 08:13 01-02-2013

Given how much I pay for the average steam steam game and how steam game prices depreciate nicely over time. I have no issues at all in not being able to on-sell my steam games.

usrev - 06:34 01-02-2013

I hope valve loses this one, if you can sell PC games you no longer want over steam it will be a whole new ball game, one of the best things with consoles is you can sell your old games and get new ones the cycle of life is one of the reasons console game sell so well. on PC when you buy it you are stuck.